


Rain

by alenkoblr



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-06
Updated: 2013-11-06
Packaged: 2017-12-31 17:25:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1034361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alenkoblr/pseuds/alenkoblr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaidan comes to understand Avery a little better in the rain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rain

Avery Shepard stood in the rain.

It was a quirk of hers Kaidan had come to know over the course of her long and rocky recovery. Even confined to a wheelchair, barely coherent, and completely slathered in medi-gel, she always insisted someone wheel her outside to at least listen to the rain. Nearly every time it had rained, she had been out in it, eyes closed and face turned to the sky.

He hadn't understood it, at first. She had been weak and sick, and the exposure could have made her worse, but she wouldn't relent. She never spoke: she just sat and let the water run down her face. It wasn't until later that he'd realized that the raindrops hid her tears.

She was Commander Shepard, first human spectre and the Savior of the Galaxy: she could not afford to cry.

So she stood in the rain and let the water wash down her face, and he watched.

She was Commander Shepard, but she was also Avery, the woman, and the weight of the galaxy had never been meant for one person to bear.

Broken. It was not a word Kaidan had ever associated with his Commander, but it was the only word that felt true. She was broken, and he couldn't put her back together.

He started standing with her in the rain. They never spoke; just stood there, his arm wrapped around her waist, her head nestled under his chin, her looking up and him looking ahead, listening to the hitch in her breath and the uneven ragged gasps, so quiet he almost felt them rather than heard them, feeling her fingers dig into his arms, clenching almost painfully each time. He kissed her forehead sometimes, pressing his lips to the creases and lingering until either the rain stopped or she pulled away and walked inside as if nothing had happened.

Once, and only once, did she ever speak during the time they spent in the rain. She had turned and buried her face in his neck, moving for the first time in almost an hour. "Thank you," she had whispered. He'd only kissed the top of her head, soaked by the rain, and held her more tightly.

Kaidan couldn't put her back together, but he could hold her until she picked up the pieces and found herself again, and he knew she would one day. Until then, he would never let her stand in the rain alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Avery Shepard is a colonist war hero vanguard, and my canon shep. Hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
